March 16, 2008

I got asked the other day what I thought the most important skill was. Now I know the person posting the question was looking for an answer like combat or fishing or woodcutting. But I thought about it and here's what I came up with-in no particular order.

1) Map Reading. In this I include using the map in game. I can tell you where the fruit tree patches are, but I'm not taking you there. I should be able to rattle off the names of the locations and you should be able to find them. I've had people ask me to come get them. As a rule my answer is no unless it's life or death. Then it's usually still no. Look, the game has a good map. Now there's a big gold star showing you where you are! Plus you can homeport!!

2) Planning/Organization. Some people have nice neat banks, others pile stuff in at random. The more time you spend looking for your stuff the less time you have to actually get xp. In addition, you will waste a lot of money and time standing in a bank trying to buy 1 air rune so you can tele. Think past the next thing you're going to do and get yourself ready.

3) Typing. I think it speaks for itself and it helps with.....

4) Communication. If nobody can understand you nobody can help you. You might think you save time by not using good spelling and punctuation (and sometimes you do) but if nobody can understand you then you need to fix it. I've been screamed at by people because I didn't answer the question they asked because I flat out didn't understand what the question was. And to be honest, a lot of the folks I know who really understand what's going on and how to optimize your game xp have the patience of a gnat. They aren't going to spend any more time then they have to explaining something.

5) Reading comprehension!!!! This is actually the one I think is most critical. It AMAZES me how many people on the RS forums don't read the updates or the post of the person above them and just ramble off. Or misread something and get all worked up about it. It also amazes me when people quest and they ask for help, someone will say what does the quest guide say. Sometimes it's something that's really complex and it's a legitimate head scratcher. Oftentimes it's something like "Take a beer to the goblin in the goblin village."

6) The ability to "Google". There are TONS of websites out there that can help you. If you dont' understand one there's others that might show the data in a different way. Plus there are forums, with tens of thousands of posts. Yes, you have to read a little but if you check for it you can usually find out about anything quite fast. If you're just a casual gamer then maybe this isn't very important. But if you're trying for a 99 then you should probably have a couple of forums/fansites that you check for the latest discoveries.

7) Healthy skepticism. Related to 6 and 5. People claim all kinds of crazy stuff. Go out and try it. But make your own decision. Think willows are faster then maples? Go cut each for an hour and see. Lots of people repeat stuff that they hear without testing. (I've read a lot of summoning guides written by people with summoning in the 60's claiming stuff that I've proven untrue). Read it, make sure you understand it and then try it out.

8) Have fun. I'll be the first person to admit I can be a bit intense at times. But this is meant to be fun. If you think picking 2,000,000 flax to make 2,000,000 bowstrings to buy 99 firemaking is fun go for it. I would poke my eye out first. Have fun with it. Yes, there are times you might have to train a skill a bit so you can get to something that's fun, but that's different.

As a side note on 8: I was searching the RS forums today looking for info on training hunter and thieving. I noticed that there are a lot of people who are either going for a cape or worry about "why isn't a quest cape respected more?" "is a fletching cape noob?" "My friend said thieving is noob".......WHO CARES? I see people stressed out about getting a 99 and then burning out. Realize that level 85 puts you at 25% of the xp needed! 25%!!!! And guess what? In most skills 85 would put you into the top 100,000 in RS in the skill!! Revel in that! Enjoy it.

I noticed that I'm ranked about 13,500 today. That means I outrank at least 5, 986,500 other people. And I'm still a noob because I don't have a cape!